George Holt: Labour’s educational vandalism has reached apprenticeships

George Holt is a councillor on Dartford Borough Council

Labour’s track record in education is already an immense cause for concern. From administering Wales’ catastrophic fall in international rankings to its relentless attacks on small independent schools, as the Shadow Education Secretary wrote on ConHome yesterday, the Labour party seems determined to put ideology before improvement.

Now, their latest move, scrapping Maths and English requirements for apprenticeships, signals yet another step towards downgrading the UK’s education standards.

No one loves Apprenticeships more than me, I am an example of what the scheme can do for young people.

Apprenticeships are, in my opinion, one of the best ways to get young people into skilled, well-paying jobs. They bridge the gap between education and employment, giving people the chance to earn while they learn and develop real-world experience that employers value. Unlike the Blairite obsession with pushing every young person into university, often leaving them with massifs of debt and degrees that don’t lead to decent jobs, apprenticeships provide a direct pathway into highly employable industries that desperately need skilled workers.

But for apprenticeships to work, they must maintain standards. The decision to remove Maths and English requirements is a disaster waiting to happen. Functional literacy and numeracy are not just workplace skills, they are life skills. Whether you’re an electrician calculating power loads, a plumber pricing up a job, or a chef managing stock orders, you need basic Maths and English to function effectively.

Removing these requirements is not helping young people; it’s setting them up for failure.

Labour’s approach to education is a slow-motion car crash. In Wales, where Labour has controlled education policy since devolution, the country now ranks among the worst-performing nations.

PISA rankings place Wales at 33rd in maths and reading and a shocking 34th in science, well below England. Meanwhile, under Conservative leadership, England has climbed the rankings, proving that reasonable expectations and rigorous standards drive genuine improvements.

Instead of learning from their mistakes, Labour is doubling down.

They’ve already begun their siege on Academies, determined to take the very freedoms that made them successful away from them. They also plan to impose VAT on small independent schools, a move that will drive thousands of students into our already stretched state system. This will not only put further strain on resources but also disproportionately impact children with special educational needs who rely on the tailored support many independent schools provide. Meanwhile, their obsession with ideological curriculum reforms risks prioritising activism over the basics of reading, writing, and numeracy.

With this desire to centralise, and downgrade the UK’s education system – it’s really of no surprise to me the country’s leading headteacher has branded the Education Secretary a “Marxist”.

The decision to scrap Maths and English requirements for apprenticeships is a short-term fix with long-term consequences. There are currently nine million adults in the UK with poor literacy and numeracy skills, many of whom struggle to access higher-paying jobs or manage day-to-day financial decisions effectively. Functional Maths and English skills give young people the tools to advance in their careers, negotiate salaries, and even start their businesses.

Yes, these subjects can be challenging for some. But the answer isn’t to lower the bar, it’s to improve how we teach and support these skills. Reforming the way functional skills are taught, providing better resources, and ensuring proper support for those who struggle would be far more effective than simply scrapping the requirement altogether.

Employers also understand the importance of maintaining standards. Many industries rely on strong communication and numeracy skills, not just for technical tasks but for teamwork, problem-solving, and customer interactions. If Labour’s plans go ahead, businesses will be left to pick up the slack, spending more time and money on basic training that should have been covered in school and apprenticeships.

We need more apprenticeships. The country is crying out for plumbers, electricians, engineers, builders, you know, people who actually do things rather than sit in an air-conditioned office writing emails about “stakeholder engagement.” And yet, somehow, Labour has managed to make even this simple task a mess.

But increasing numbers should not come at the expense of core life skills. A strong apprenticeship system should be built on foundational skills, ensuring that every apprentice leaves with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

Instead of cutting corners, Labour should focus on real reforms that would strengthen apprenticeships. This could include reforming funding for training providers, cutting red tape for SMEs to take on apprentices, and introducing a skills tax credit to support businesses to invest in training.

Scrapping Maths and English requirements is a short-sighted move that will harm the very people apprenticeships are supposed to help.

If Labour really cared about opportunity, they’d be raising standards, not throwing them to the bonfire.